SEOUL—In a sign that companies are making progress in developing 6G technologies, LG Electronics has announced that it successfully demonstrated the transmission and reception of wireless 6G terahertz (THz) data over 100 meters in an outdoor setting.
This milestone was achieved in collaboration with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe’s largest applied research lab, on August 13 with the data traveling between Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) and the Berlin Institute of Technology in Germany.
6G THz has short range and experiences power loss during transmission and reception between antennas. As a result, one of the biggest challenges in the evolution of wireless 6G has been the need of power amplification to generate a stable signal across ultra-wideband frequencies, LG noted.
The power amplifier developed by LG, Fraunhofer HHI and Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics (IAF) allowed them to overcome that problem. The power amplifier is capable of generating stable signal output up to 15 dBm in the frequency range between 155 to 175 GHz.
LG was also successful in demonstrating adaptive beamforming technology which alters the signal’s direction in accordance with changes to the channel and receiver position as well as high gain antenna switching which combines output signals of multiple power amplifiers and transmits them to specific antennas, the companies said.
With 5G technologies still in the early stages of being deployed around the world, the next generation 6G technologies are years away.
With global standardization targeted for 2025 and commercialization within four years thereafter, 6G networks will be able to support faster wireless transmission and communication speeds with low-latency and high-reliability.
LG Electronics has been actively developing 6G core technologies for a while.
In 2019 LG established the LG-KAIST 6G Research Center in partnership with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, the country’s foremost research university. Earlier this year, LG and KAIST brought on board Keysight Technologies Inc., a global manufacturer of wireless telecommunication testing and measuring equipment, to take the collaboration to the next level.
In June, LG was also elected chair of the Applications Working Group of the Next G Alliance, the industry initiative of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) to advance mobile technology leadership in 6G for the next decade and beyond in North America.
“The success of this test demonstrates that we are ever closer to the successful application of terahertz radio communication spectrum in the upcoming 6G era,” said Dr. I.P. Park, president and CTO of LG Electronics. “Our successful partnerships with local and global research institutions and organizations to advance the development of 6G capabilities have been very rewarding.”
